Job outlook for young adults bleak

Youth unemployment is at its highest sustained level since World War II.

Margaret Fisher, Staff Writer

Youth unemployment is at its highest sustained level since World War II.

So says a report from Generation Opportunity, a national nonprofit youth advocacy organization.

Instead of rolling right into nursing or other career fields, a young person with a college degree may end up tossing burgers at the local fast food joint.

Non-seasonally adjusted statistics show 16.1 percent of young people ages 18 to 29 were unemployed in April. The percentage was adjusted for labor participation, including the 1.7 million young adults who have given up seeking work, the report states.

The unemployment rate for African Americans was 20.4 percent, for Hispanics was 12 percent and for women was 10 percent.

“It is a rough time to be a young person in America,” Evan Feinberg, president of Generation Opportunity, said. “The effective youth unemployment rate is 16.1 percent, and with about 2 million college students graduating this month, there is no sign of an economic recovery for my generation. Half of all graduating seniors aren’t going to find meaningful work in the coming months.”

One in three students preparing to graduate report applying for more than 40 jobs, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, a news, advice and job source for people in academics. Yet, employers expect to hire 2.1 percent more new college graduates this year than they did last year — down from the 13 percent increase they projected in the fall.

That same survey found the unemployment rate for recent college graduates in their early 20s is nearly 9 percent. That number increases to 18 percent when combined with those employed part-time but looking for full-time work and those who have given up.

Holly Harrison, a Workforce Investment Act youth career consultant with JobLink at Lenoir Community College, helps students ages 16 to 21 find jobs.

Out of 30 students in the program, 14 have found jobs and eight have taken internships. But, many of them are not landing jobs in their career fields.

“Most of them are only able to find jobs in the service or fast food industry,” Harrison said.

She recommends to students they take an internship in their field so they have some experience on their resume.

“I think most of them are having difficulties,” she said, “because they either have older people that are currently unemployed with a higher skill set or more education.”

That is the case in the fields commonly considered wide open, such as nursing or medical billing and coding, Harrison said.

“Most of (the students) are kind of settling for any job, at this point,” she said.

Yet, that age group is looking to leave the nest and become independent. They end up staying at home, working for minimum wage and trying to save up money to leave home, or they’ve left home and are getting government assistance, she said.

“Those who have internships are getting jobs,” Harrison said, adding many are getting paid for interning.

Frances Gaskins, the director of cooperative education at LCC, helps students find jobs in their career field.

“I think there are programs that are, of course, more placeable than others,” she said.

Graduates may have to move to an area where there are more jobs in their field.

“They may have to move,” Gaskins said. “Sometimes that’s a barrier to some in our locality.”

Gaskins said she’s seeing a number of students willing to volunteer in order to gain experience and a good reference.

“It really is a good resume builder,” she said, “and sometimes leads to employment.”

Gaskins said students who are getting hired are entering fields such as automotive, industrial management, engineering technology, machining and welding, culinary, aerostructure manufacturing, accounting and human services technology.

Local industries, such as Smithfield, Lenox, West Pharmaceuticals and Spirit Aerosystems, are often hiring for industrial and manufacturing positions, she said.

Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.